


Cecil's First Boyfriend

by bondboy68



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, First Kiss, First Love, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bondboy68/pseuds/bondboy68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil’s first boyfriend wasn’t exactly a boy. Or even human. Or a complete physical manifestation. But he loved Cecil and Cecil loved him, and first love really is something to be cherished.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cecil's First Boyfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Let's just agree that we all reacted to episode 33 in different ways.

Cecil’s first boyfriend wasn’t exactly a boy. Or even human. Or a complete physical manifestation. But he loved Cecil and Cecil loved him, and first love really is something to be cherished. They met, as many first loves do, in the middle of the night in Cecil’s bedroom. As the teen dreamed, he was suddenly awoken by a violent tremor and great crash. 

Cecil sat up in bed with a squeak, pulling his sheets up to his chest. “What was that?” he asked allowed, looking around the dark bedroom. His bed shook again. “Who’s there? Mom? Ricky?” There was silence. No… no silence… there was a subtle clicking noise coming from… somewhere. When he strained his ear he could not locate a direction. “Hello…?” he whispered. From the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. Something diving under his bed. He threw himself on to the bed, peeking over the edge. He saw nothing on the floor peaking out from under the bed. He peered further and though he saw something, like a shadow moving within a shadow. 

“It’s alright. I won’t hurt you. I just want to see what you are.” Slowly, something slid out from under the bed. Cecil couldn’t see it at first, it just looked like a wavy spot of air, like the heat off a highway in the sun. But then it became more solid, more like a transparent projection. It had large black eyes, three arms, a large pincher, no legs or feet, a black body, and two tentacles that floated in the air serenely. 

He smiled. “My name is Cecil.” The creature emitted a clicking sound. He couldn’t understand it, but it sounded happy. “How long have you been under my bed?” More clicks. Cecil guessed about two months. “You should have come and said hello. What’s your name?” A few whistles were added into the clicks. Cecil wasn’t sure he could mimic them. “How about I call you Ralph?” Ralph blinked at him, clicked, and seemed content. “It’s nice to meet you, Ralph.” 

After that they spent most evenings talking. Mostly it was Cecil doing all the talking, and Ralph clicking and whistling, and sometimes humming or gently vibrating (Cecil was pretty sure that was laughter). They would lie together on his bed and Cecil would talk about his day, his homework, his friends. 

On a particularly cold night Cecil told Ralph he could sleep in the bed if he wanted. “It must be uncomfortable on the floor. If you stay up here with me, we can keep each other warm.” He wasn’t sure if Ralph needed the body heat, or exuded any of his own, but the presence was welcome on both sides. 

Sometimes Ralph would fade, untouchable and hard to see. Sometimes he was opaque and almost grab-able, like thick smoke. Cecil learned how to use just enough pressure that he could put his hand on Ralph or hold his tentacle and it felt real and solid. 

The first kiss wasn’t planned or thought out at all. They were just sitting on Cecil’s bed on a rainy night, laughing and teasing each other, Ralph waving his arms in Cecil’s face in a way that bugged him but also made him laugh, when Cecil grabbed hold of one of the arms and kissed it. An electric spark seemed to jump across his lips and for a moment the two simply stared at another, Cecil’s cheeks pink and Ralph a shade more transparent than before. Slowly, Cecil leaned forward and pressed his lips to Ralph’s smoky black body. The spark went off again. “Neat,” Cecil whispered, smiling dreamily. 

He decided not to tell his mother he had a boyfriend, even though she could tell something was up. It was just too complicated, he decided, and she probably wouldn’t approve of his first boyfriend living in his room. Their relationship shifted after that first kiss. It was less playful banter and more laying next to each other, exchanging soft touches and tentative kisses. Never going too far, but just glad to be near one another. 

Cecil was in love. At school he couldn’t stop smiling and sighing. Everything seemed sweeter, brighter, happier. He told Ralph he loved him, and Ralph clicked and hummed extra loud in response. They cuddled and fell asleep in each other’s embrace. 

But like all first loves, there was an end. Ralph didn’t have to speak, didn’t have to know the human tongue for Cecil to know exactly what was going on when he came into his room after school one day and Ralph was sitting quietly by a huge gaping black hole that took up one entire wall of his bedroom. 

“You’re leaving?” he could feel his heart breaking, tears welling up in his eyes. “No… No, you can’t go. Ralph… I love you.” Ralph enveloped him in his arms and Cecil sobbed into the soft smoke. “Please don’t go…” Ralph whistled sadly, stroked his hair and cheek. Before pulling away, he wrapped one tentacle around his wrist, gripping so hard that for a moment Cecil thought he was going to snap his arm. But when he pulled away, a little black tentacle was wrapped around his wrist. He touched it and it wiggled away up his arm, hiding under his shirt. “Mom’s going to kill me when she finds out I got a tattoo,” he tried to joke, offering a small smile. Ralph caressed his cheek and Cecil leaned in for one last kiss, one last jolt of a spark between him and his first love. But even he had to admit that the spark wasn’t as sharp as it had been. Things ran their course all the time. Nothing was forever.

“I’ll never forget you,” he whispered quietly, watching as Ralph turned and entered the black void. As he did, it instantly closed in on itself, shrinking into a dot and then nothing. Ralph was gone. Cecil cried on his bed for two hours but when he was done, he felt better. Now it was time to move on. And when he looked down at his arm, a little back tentacle was curled around it, wiggling happily.


End file.
